The Smartphone Is Dead

This year has been a big bummer for gadget nerds hoping the next
big thing would arrive soon.

It hasn't.

That's not to say there haven't been some great new devices.
There have been plenty: The HTC
One. The BlackBerry
Z10. The Samsung
Galaxy S4. The Moto X.
They're all really good phones, and you'd probably be happy
buying any of them.

But despite all the marketing hype surrounding each phone,
despite all the
glitzy events, despite the months of executives openly
teasing their next product, none of the devices launched this
year have been the revolution they claimed to be. They're all on
parity with each other. Apple may have leapfrogged the
competition with the introduction of the first iPhone in 2007,
but since then, everyone else has caught up.

For most people, all of these devices do pretty much the same
things. They let you run apps, browse the Web, watch video, check
your email, and play endless rounds of Candy Crush. It doesn't
matter how much you paid or what kind of special features your
phone's manufacturer touts. It's all the same these days. The
concept of a "smartphone" is dead.

As someone who watches the mobile industry so closely, it's
frustrating to see companies still try to do for phones what
Apple did six years ago. It's almost gotten absurd.

Last week, LG introduced its new
flagship phone called the G2. Its distinguishing feature? The
volume controls are on the back of the device, right below the
camera.

Nokia introduced a phone last month called
the Lumia 1020 that had a 41 megapixel camera, an
over-the-top feature that most people will never need, let alone
care to spend an extra $100 for.

Samsung was probably the worst offender with its Galaxy S4 phone.
It packed in so many useless gimmicks like touchless gestures and
eye tracking that it actually made the device more complex and
frustrating to use, not better.

I could go on and on, but I think you get the idea. Simply put,
the "wow" factor in today's smartphones doesn't exist. They're
all just ... phones. It's going to take more than a handful of
gimmicks to convince the public that a new era in mobile
computing has arrived.

Meanwhile, it's worth taking a look at the overall smartphone
market. The
high-end of the market is nearing saturation, meaning just
about everyone who wants a new top-tier device like the iPhone 5
or HTC One already has one. It'll be nearly impossible for
another player to come in and whisk away the market share Apple
and Samsung have already scooped up.

To be clear: I'm not saying people are going to stop buying
phones. (They won't.) I'm not saying the phones companies release
are bad. (They're not.) I'm saying we've reached the point where
all devices are pretty much the same, and it's silly for them to
try and differentiate themselves with useless gimmicks.

Mobile devices aren't going away, but the concept of a
"smartphone" is dead.